Presidents Above Party: The First American Presidency, 1789-1829George Washington's vision was a presidency free of party, a republican, national office that would transcend faction. That vision would remain strong in the administrations of John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, and John Quincy Adams, yet largely disappear under Andrew Jackson and his successors. This book is a comprehensive and pathbreaking study of the early presidency and the ideals behind it. Ralph Ketcham examines the roots of nonpartisan leadership in Western thought and the particular influences on the founding fathers. Intellectual and political profiles of the first six presidents and their administrations emphasize the construction each put on the office, the challenges he faced, and the compromises he did and did not make. The erosion of nonpartisanship under Andrew Jackson is presented as a counterpoint that helps define the early presidency and the permanent transition from it. Addressing the thoughtful citizen as well as the scholar, the author poses the fundamental questions about presidential leadership, then and now. The best study of the early presidency, this book is an intellectual portrait of the age that will challenge received notions of American history. |
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Page xiii
... Kings are the public pillars of the State " / 20 The Growth of the Commercial Ethic / 22 2. Ancients and Moderns in the Age ... King / 57 Legacy for Leadership in America / 67 4. Executive Power in the Era of the American Revolution / 69 ...
... Kings are the public pillars of the State " / 20 The Growth of the Commercial Ethic / 22 2. Ancients and Moderns in the Age ... King / 57 Legacy for Leadership in America / 67 4. Executive Power in the Era of the American Revolution / 69 ...
Page 4
... king ” —an ancient conception of leadership above party and without corruption , articulated for Washing- ton's generation by Henry St. John , Lord Bolingbroke . In surrounding himself with certain ceremonies of courtly dignity , in ...
... king ” —an ancient conception of leadership above party and without corruption , articulated for Washing- ton's generation by Henry St. John , Lord Bolingbroke . In surrounding himself with certain ceremonies of courtly dignity , in ...
Page 5
... king , Lords , and Com- mons ) , the key bulwarks of freedom were bills of rights defining the limits of government and the privileges of men and the right of government by consent through some representative process . All of this ...
... king , Lords , and Com- mons ) , the key bulwarks of freedom were bills of rights defining the limits of government and the privileges of men and the right of government by consent through some representative process . All of this ...
Page 8
... king of America . Only the widespread willingness to entrust one man , General Washington , with executive power ( itself an unrepublican sentiment , of course ) allowed the delegates to fashion and then the people to accept such an ...
... king of America . Only the widespread willingness to entrust one man , General Washington , with executive power ( itself an unrepublican sentiment , of course ) allowed the delegates to fashion and then the people to accept such an ...
Page 9
... king , yet he was more than a representative or legislator . What was he ? To an- swer this question each of the early presidents and his advisers relied most immediately on the theory , practice , idealization , and criticism of ...
... king , yet he was more than a representative or legislator . What was he ? To an- swer this question each of the early presidents and his advisers relied most immediately on the theory , practice , idealization , and criticism of ...
Contents
3 | |
11 | |
The American Presidency 17891837 | 87 |
Republican Dilemmas Virtue and Commerce Leadership and Party | 163 |
Notes | 237 |
Index | 261 |
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Abigail Adams accepted Adams's administration admired Alexander Pope American Revolution ancient Augustan Bernard Mandeville Bolingbroke Britain British Buren Cato century Charles Francis Adams Classical colonies commercial common conception Congress Constitution Convention corruption cultural Daniel Defoe defended Defoe democratic Dunciad early presidents economic eighteenth eighteenth-century election England English ethic executive power faction Federal Federalist Franklin George Hamilton ibid idea ideal ideology insisted J. Q. Adams Jackson Jacksonian James Madison Jeffersonian John Adams John Quincy Adams John Winthrop Jonathan Swift legislative legislature liberty Mandeville ment modern monarch Monroe moral nation Number opposition Parliament partisan partisanship patriot king patriot leader Pitt Plutarch political parties president's principles prosperity public philosophy Puritan quoted radical Whig republic republican Revolutionary role rulers scorned self-interest sense six presidents society sought spirit Thomas Jefferson thought tion Tory trade traditional United virtue virtuous Walpole Walpole's Walpolean Washington wealth Wilson Writings wrote York